Anonymous
Source: AFSB
The annual Santa Barbara County High School Architectural Design Competition of 2020 has finally concluded. Ordinarily, the Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara (AFSB), the non-profit that organizes this competition, completes this elaborate event in a single week, but this year, quite unexpectedly, it lasted an entire month. It almost didn’t happen at all, thanks to a global pandemic. Organizers and competitors alike, led by AFSB Vice President, Jeremy White, had to learn how to run an architectural juried review remotely.
The competition requires months to plan. Thus, on March 10, when this year’s event finally commenced, organizers had no idea the event would face cancellation. That morning, nearly fifty students from across Santa Barbara County met face to face at two locations: at Direct Relief in Santa Barbara and at Santa Ynez Valley Union High School. Each student was given an architectural program and a hypothetical building site upon which to imagine, create, and design a tiny home to scale. This was Stage One, the Design Charrette lasting eight intense hours. Four days later, after a set of six local architects selected twelve Finalists, and thus Stage Two, the Juried Review, was primed to take place on Saturday at Dunn School.
However, just as competitors were finalizing their design plans during the charrette, Dunn School officials informed AFSB that no face to face events would be permitted at the school. The unprecedented threat of the disease Covid-19 and the rapid spread of Coronavirus had prompted the school to make that decision, an early adopter of social distancing now ubiquitous across California. The prospect of crowding an event space with fifty or more people no longer seemed viable, consequently requiring event organizers to devise and adopt a remote solution, a first-ever in the history of the competition.
According to organizer Jeremy White, the remote solution was ad hoc. “We didn’t want to cancel the Juried Review,” he said. “The kids worked too hard for that, and fortunately, the judges were willing to work with us as we found a way to keep going, and the kids and their families were keen to carry on. It happened because everybody cooperated.”
Every year, the design challenge pulls from current or recent events and this year was inspired by Santa Barbara’s Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) Ordinance No. 5837 passed by the City Council on May 2018. Competitors were asked to design a tiny home without making it feel claustrophobic or cramped, a concept many in Santa Barbara are coming to terms with post “shelter in place” mandates. It was a classic problem of how to make more with less.
The Juried Review normally requires the 12 finalists to make a 15-minute presentation to a panel of four professional judges. This is a traditional practice in architecture education and one of the more important features of the competition as it emphasizes AFSB’s mission of education. However, to comply with safety regulations, the modified remote competition required students to produce a 4-minute video presentation of their design project. This was their chance to pitch a design solution to professionals in the architecture community, and to receive direct feedback on their design and their presentation.
Once all videos were submitted electronically, the four judges individually reviewed and scored their work using a 100-point scale, organized in three categories: Solution, Creativity, and Presentation. Judges noted that while nothing can replace in-person presentation and discussion, the opportunity to provide in-depth written feedback to each finalist was something the competition ordinarily could not accommodate. “It’s an honor and privilege to be participating in this program as a judge,” said Sandy Blair, an Air Force veteran, and former law enforcement officer. The only non-architect on the jury, Blair has advocated for addressing the growing crisis of homelessness amongst women veterans. Blair is the founder and CEO of Operation WEB.
With scores from the judges turned in, it fell on the organizing team of AFSB to tally averages and notify all the winners. While the awards ceremony at the Juried Review was not possible, it was replaced by the mailing of personal notes along with prize checks and award certificates to infuse a sense of celebration, albeit from a distance.
The winner this year was Emilia Thomas, a junior at Santa Barbara High School, the first winner from that school in ten years. Second place went to Ellie Gleason, a freshman from Dos Pueblos High School, and third place went to Luming Cao, a senior from Laguna Blanca. “It has been a pleasure competing in this competition for the past four years,” said Luming. Two Finalists received the award of Honorable Mention, both from Santa Ynez Valley Union High, Larson Ladinig, a senior, and the return of Olivia Doman, a sophomore, and last year’s first-place winner.
The competition, remote or face to face, would not have been possible without AFSB’s sponsors. For over fifteen years the Santa Ynez Valley Rotary Club has supported the event by providing tables and food at the Santa Ynez venue, as well as the labor to organize and clean-up the charrette space. “We are so excited each year to see the talent, creativity, and confidence that young people in high school have when they arrive to participate in this design competition,” said Randy Jones, Club President. “To sponsor this community event with the Santa Barbara Architectural Foundation is one of the greatest highlights of the year. It is truly inspirational. ” Tom Jacobs, AFSB Board Member and High School Design Competition Committee member, managed to secure a new sponsor in 2020, his own Rotary Club of Santa Barbara North. Printing was donated by Inklings and Tri-Co Reprographics, while the two charrette venues were donated by Santa Ynez Valley Union High School and Direct Relief. AFSB is also grateful to the Salvation Army – California South Division, for supplying hungry competitors at the Santa Barbara charrette with snacks and lunch.
About AFSB
Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara. Enhancing our community’s appreciation of the built environment. Since 1983. We are located in the historic Acheson House at the corner of Garden and East Victoria Streets in Santa Barbara. Regular gallery hours are Saturdays from 1:00 to 4:00 pm and by appointment.
